Full Transcript
[00:00:00] This is John chapter three, probably one of the most famous passages in the Bible where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and he tells Nicodemus, you need to be born again. That’s a famous phrase, right? Used to describe evangelical Christians. We’re gonna talk about that phrase today in Greek and see what it means and look at the other times it’s used in the Book of John.
See if it really means born again or if Jesus probably had a different sense for that word. So in this chapter, it starts out with Jesus conversation with Nicodemus. Then we’ll go to John the Baptist again, who we already saw, if you remember in chapter one.
John the Baptist will have some teaching. It’s not a real long chapter. It is longer than chapter two, but still not very long. I’m gonna do this similar to the chapter two video, where as I read the passage in Greek, I’ll read three or four verses at a time what’s pictured on the screen. In red [00:01:00] boxes, I will outline the main verb in each sentence or clause, and then we’ll go back through and the subject I’ll put in blue. So if you’re learning Greek, try to identify those yourself. That’s kind of the backbone of the sentence, of the clause. If you can identify those two pieces the main verb, usually indicative verbs, although sometimes it’s gonna be subjunctive verbs are the main verbs in a given clause. And then participles are also gonna be very frequent.
I’m not gonna outline those in red because. Are a little bit different in their grammatical function. So once we’ve highlighted the main backbone of the sentence. I’ll go back and translate through the whole thing, and I think this method will help you if you’re a student of Greek, but it’s your first time getting into actual Greek texts in, in big chunks.
This is one [00:02:00] method you can use to sort of slow yourself down help avoid that feeling of overwhelm. Where you just feel immersed and you’re drowning and you can’t swim because everything seems so, so unfamiliar and there’s so much information there. Just slow down, break the sentence down one step at a time.
You probably know a lot of these verbs already and you probably know a lot of these nouns already, and so that’s what we’re gonna start with. Just slowly outlining those. And then once we have the main sense of the passage through the verb and the noun and the main noun, the subject, then you have some context to work with that will help you understand the rest of the sentence.
So let’s start in John chapter three, verse one. Ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἄρχων τῶν [00:03:00] Ἰουδαίων· οὗτος ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν νυκτὸς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ῥαββί, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐλήλυθας διδάσκαλος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ δύναται ταῦτα τὰ σημεῖα ποιεῖν ἃ σὺ ποιεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ὁ θεὸς μετʼ αὐτοῦ. ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
Let’s stop there. So I think I’ve gotten, I’ve at least gotten most of the main verbs here. Now let’s go back and look for the nouns. So ἄνθρωπος, this, omicron Sigma ending tells you it’s probably the subject, right? Even [00:04:00] though there is no article in front of it. ὄνομα is name, that’s a third decension noun, so it’s a little bit odd in form. But that is the nominative case. Here we have a pronoun, which is the subject. This one, this is from God. This is a little bit of an odd sentence. But it looks like διδάσκαλος is the subject. And then I think here it’s another pronoun. Here it’s you in this clause. Here we see the article with God. So that’s the subject. The nominative article is always easy to identify ’cause it is just that omicron here. Jesus’ name in Greek is only partially declinable. This is the nominative form here. The subject of this clause is implied, so this is the lexical form of the verb to say, λέγω.
So it’s, I say even though [00:05:00] I is not explicitly there. Here it’s τις, and then this δύναται is third person singular. And so there’s an implied subject here, which is exactly the same. It’s just pointing back to this previous clause and has the same subject. Okay, so this is the basic outline of the passage.
We may notice a few more to box in as we go through the whole thing in detail, but let’s just start with this. So there was a man out of the Pharisees. That’s usually how I shorthand translate this preposition, which is ἐκ which you can think of like the English word exodus. It’s someone coming out from where they are. Now this is just this sort of phrase where it has ἐκ and then it has a, like a group followed following the ἐκ usually says, this is like this person that we’re talking about is one of [00:06:00] the members of this group. So Nicodemus is one of the Pharisees and his name ὄνομα is name, so Nicodemus is his name.
You notice right here that the αὐτῷ, you might expect, like in the way we say it in English, we would probably use Genitive, but because I would say, my name is Joseph and so I would use the possessive form, which would be genitive in Greek. What we actually do is use Dative case in Greek.
So think of that like someone’s giving you your name when you’re born, right? So you’re, you’re like the recipient or the indirect object of the name. That’s how it’s thought of in Greek. That’s, and that’s why we use Dative case. So this Nicodemus was a leader. We’ve talked a lot about this word or other forms of this word in previous videos.
So as a leader of the Jews, this one came towards him at [00:07:00] night and said to him.. So we don’t know here who’s the him, or later on it will tell us it’s Jesus. But if you go back to, chapter two, which is not on the screen, it’s clear that Jesus is the subject. Also, he calls him rabbi. There are a lot of clues here of who Nicodemus is talking to. So we know that from God, you have come a teacher, now teacher here is the subject of the sentence and the implied subject from the verb is you. Right?
So this is a little bit of a strange construction to me. I don’t know how common this kind of thing is, but it’s clear what it means, right? It’s the teacher is the subject and you are the subject. So you are the teacher and he is just filling in Jesus’ role here. So you [00:08:00] have come from God and teacher has come from God.
Usually with this subject you would expect the third person. But here we have. The second person verb. So direct you. Nicodemus is just saying you are a teacher who’s come from God. No one, for, okay, so we have γὰρ here is just saying for. So it’s linking back to the previous statement. γὰρ is telling us this is how we know, and this is how we know you’re a teacher from God. No one is able, the things, the signs, these signs to do, which you do, if not was God with him. If not God is with him.
So is how you would fill that in. Now let me go back ’cause I just noticed something. So this word might be a little bit unfamiliar. ἐλήλυθας. This is just [00:09:00] the perfect form of to come. So ἔρχομαι is a very common verb, right? This is just the perfect form of it, and it looks nothing like ἔρχομαι. This is just a highly irregular verb.
You don’t even have to memorize it. If you just spend time reading the New Testament in Greek slowly and carefully in context, you will learn these forms automatically ’cause they’re so common. And the gospel of John does use this perfect form of to come over and over again.
Okay? So Nicodemus made this statement to Jesus. We know you’re a teacher sent from God, and here’s why. Because these signs you’re doing.
What does Jesus answer to him? So, ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ. This formula we see over and over again. I think we’ve already seen it in John chapter one and chapter two. He answered and he said, it seems repetitive, right? Because we have both answered and [00:10:00] said, but it’s just something that shows up over and over again in the Greek this sort of double verb.
So he’s not just saying. His saying is specifically an answer, reply to what Nicodemus said. Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι. This is another sort of formula that Jesus uses over and over again to emphasize what he’s about to say. So, amen, amen, I tell you, or think a lot of English translations will translate it truly, truly, I say to you. If not someone is born ἄνωθεν. So ἄνωθεν is the word we’re really gonna dig into here. It’s often translated born again, but it can also be from above. So born γεννηθῇ is born, has been born passive form, and then ἄνωθεν is either again or from above. If he’s not done this, he is not able to [00:11:00] see the kingdom of God.
So, which is it? Is it from above or born again? Now, part of that we’re gonna figure out based on the context, what does Nicodemus respond back to Jesus? What’s Jesus say to Nicodemus? That’ll help us fill it in, but we can also look at what the rest of the gospel of John says about this word.
Let me wipe out these notes and then I’m gonna skip over to a passage list. Okay, so this is outlining instances of this word ἄνωθεν in the Gospel of John.
So we’ve got four examples in the SBL Greek New Testament, which is the version I’m using, and let’s go through those. So John 3:3 is the one we just went over.
John 3:31. We will also get to this one today, but let’s go ahead and look at it here. Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν. ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς γῆς [00:12:00] ἐστιν καὶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ· ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν·
Just a side note here, if you’re confused about how I pronounce this gamma, like why I say “yace” instead of “gace”. I went through that in one of the earlier videos. I think the, it was the John chapter one video. I went through how to pronounce gamma in Greek. If you’re learning Erasmian pronunciation, then that’s one of many things that you’ve been taught wrong and it’s gonna make it hard to learn the language.
So if you’re interested in this series, go back to chapter one and one of the timestamps that explains how to pronounce gamma. It’s probably the hardest consonant to get through in Greek. And I go through that in, in great detail, when to make it a hard G sound and when to make it a softer y sound.
The one, so we have ἄνωθεν, and then we have ἐρχόμενος. [00:13:00] So this is a participle, right? So the one coming again, or from above, those are our two candidates, right? For this word, it’s again, or it’s from above. So let’s try the one coming again, above all is the one who out of the earth, out of the earth is, and out of the earth speaks.
The one out of heaven coming above all is. So, does again make sense here or does from above make more sense here? The one from above coming above all is, and this ἐπάνω is two pieces. It’s like ἐπί, which is on, right? So it’s preposition on, and then this άν is similar to ἀνά, which is another preposition, meaning up or above.
So this sense [00:14:00] is above everything, you got two prepositions that kind of show the sense of above or on. So based on the context, right? He’s comparing, he’s saying this one who’s either coming from above or coming again is above everything and it’s contrasted that one is contrasted with the one from the earth. So it’s pretty clear on this passage 3:31 that ἄνωθεν means from above, not again.
Now, John 19:11. ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ Ἰησοῦς· Οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν κατʼ ἐμοῦ οὐδεμίαν εἰ μὴ ἦν δεδομένον σοι ἄνωθεν· διὰ τοῦτο ὁ παραδούς μέ σοι μείζονα ἁμαρτίαν ἔχει.
So the context here is he’s speaking to Pilate and the Jewish leaders have just delivered Jesus over to Pilate because they want Pilate to put him to death, right? So Jesus answered him, meaning Pilate, not you have [00:15:00] authority over me, if not at all, was given to you again.
So this is the word again, this is the wording question that we’re trying to understand. If that authority was given to you again, or that authority was given to you from above. And then, for this reason through this, the one delivering me to you, greater sin has. So this is always translated from above, right?
Jesus is telling Pilate, you wouldn’t have any authority to me unless it was given to you Again. That just doesn’t make sense. It’s from above here.
So let’s look at the last example. οἱ οὖν στρατιῶται ὅτε ἐσταύρωσαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἔλαβον τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐποίησαν τέσσαρα μέρη, ἑκάστῳ στρατιώτῃ μέρος, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα. ἦν δὲ ὁ χιτὼν ἄραφος, ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντὸς διʼ ὅλου.
This [00:16:00] is when, you notice it’s John 19 again, so very close to when Jesus is delivered over to Pilate. Now he’s actually being crucified. And so στρατιῶται is the soldiers. So it was the soldiers plural, and they’re the ones who, crucifying Jesus. They took his clothes and made four parts, each soldier a part.
Okay? So to each soldier a part, but the χιτὼν was all in one piece, remember? So it was woven from the top. This is from above, throughout, through the whole thing. So it was one piece woven from above, from the top of the χιτὼν, which is, I think the tunic. It’s woven in one piece.
There’s no seam in it. From top to bottom or from top to through the whole thing is literally the meaning of the Greek. So [00:17:00] here again, it’s not, again, it’s not woven again through the whole thing.
These are four examples. The only four times this word is used in the Gospel of John, and every time it means from above. So this is one piece of evidence that this word does not mean again, or that’s not the intent with which it’s used.
But one other line of, I guess logic or evidence, we can use is the context. So we’re coming back to verse three. Where’s the word? Let’s highlight it again. I’ll use this green so it stands out. Okay. So born again or born from above? We finished verse three.
Now let’s go to verse four. λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Νικόδημος· Πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς [00:18:00] μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι; ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
This one is actually infinitive. I didn’t mean to box it in. So, verse four, let’s see. Let’s see what we have in terms of nominative. So Nicodemus is the subject here. Nicodemus is the one speaking towards him, meaning Jesus. How can a man, how is able a man?
And here we have infinitive. So this is a verb form, but it’s a participle… or yeah, infinitive. How can a man to be born old, being. When he’s [00:19:00] old. Not able into the hollow, this is like womb or hollow place or belly right here. Actually I should do that. I’ll do it in blue. So we keep verb forms in red and noun forms in blue.
So the womb of his mother, a second time right here, δεύτερον, enter in and to be born. So the way Nicodemus interprets this is that Jesus is saying, you must be born again. Right? This is the emphasis of Nicodemus reply. If Nicodemus has had took Jesus to mean born from above, he might have realized that this was a symbolic or metaphorical thing, but he takes Jesus to mean born again.
So just like a literal meaning. You’re born once and now you’re old, nicodemus, you’re, it doesn’t explicitly say he is old, but he’s one of the rulers of the Jewish Council, we know he is pretty old based on that, [00:20:00] it’s like, how can I be born again? Probably his mom is not even still living. So how can he enter again into his mom’s womb and be born? That’s the sense Nicodemus is taking it.
And then in verse five, we see Jesus’ response. So I tell you, if not anyone is born out of water and spirit, not able to enter into the kingdom of God. So notice some of the parallels here.
In Jesus’ response, he uses this word εἰσελθεῖν, right? So right here, except he’s talking about, or sorry, I’ve just pointed to where Nicodemus uses it. Jesus also uses it too. Right here, Nicodemus is talking about entering in again to his mother’s womb. Jesus is talking about entering into heaven. So Nicodemus is stuck in this literal framework, whereas Jesus is saying [00:21:00] not that what Jesus is saying is not literal, it’s just a different meaning.
It’s born from above, not born again. So enter into the womb, enter into the kingdom of God, and then the other part of Jesus’ response is this bit about born out of water and spirit. So the spirit piece is really the part that Jesus is gonna run with as he continues explaining this concept to Nicodemus.
We’re gonna see the idea that the spirit is from above and being baptized in water and spirit is the baptism from above, although maybe the water is talking about the natural birth that’s possible, but it could be referring to baptism. I’m definitely coming down on this born again question that that was not the main sense of Jesus’ statement. That’s the main way Nicodemus took it. And that’s the main way it’s translated today, but it’s not the primary sense that was intended. And that has two pieces of evidence. We saw other uses in the Book of John [00:22:00] where it’s translated from above, and we saw the context here where Jesus emphasis on the use of ἄνωθεν in verse three.
Based on the context, his emphasis is on Born from Above. And I think we’ll continue to see that as we go on to verse six. But it’s interesting that the way it’s translated today, and the way we still usually read this in English is the misunderstanding that Nicodemus had. That’s the emphasis.
Now, is it totally wrong? No, because if a person is born from above, that happens after their natural birth, and so it is a sense of born again. Because it’s the second time they’re born. They’re born from above. So it’s born again in addition to born from above. So both of those meanings are true. It’s just the one that Jesus is clearly emphasizing is the born from above part, not the born again part. And yet we run with the born [00:23:00] again Christian language today.
So let’s go on to verse six. This is the part of the video that I’m taking the most time with. We’ll definitely speed up as this continues through Chapter three. Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν. μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὅτι εἶπόν σοι Δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν. τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις, ἀλλʼ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει· οὕτως ἐστὶν πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος. ἀπεκρίθη Νικόδημος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι;
Okay, let me just make sure I got there’s [00:24:00] so many verbs. There’s a lot more verbs than normal in this discussion between Nicodemus and Jesus, so it’s a little hard for me to get them all while I’m reading the text. Maybe that’s most of it. So let’s go back now and find the nouns.
So the one having been born out of the flesh, flesh is, so this is the subject. And then this is also, we have the εἰμί or the “to be” verb used equating the two sides. The one born out of the flesh is one side. The other side is flesh and it’s equating the two.
So if you’re born out of the flesh, you are flesh contrasting the one born out of the spirit. Spirit is so do not marvel that I say to you. So it is necessary to you [00:25:00] be born again or from above. I think it’s still from above. So the spirit is the subject, the spirit, where once where he wants he goes, or where it wants it, it blows.
Now, spirit here, this word πνεῖ is like the wind blowing. ‘Cause the word for spirit is the same word as the word for wind. So earlier what Jesus was saying, born out of water could have been borne out of water and wind, or it could be borne out of water and spirit. Now it seems like he’s going with more of the wind, meaning.
The wind where it wants it blows and the sound of it, its sound you hear. So implied verb here is you, but not, okay. I missed a verb right here, but you do not know from [00:26:00] where it comes and where it goes. So you don’t know the origin or the destination of this wind. You just hear it sound and you know it’s there.
So then we have the one born out of the spirit. So in this way, this οὕτως is like in, in this same way, in this same manner, is everyone who’s been born out of the wind or out of the spirit. So this is where we usually say he is talking about born out of the Spirit, which is a birth from above, which coincidentally happens to be the second birth.
The Nicodemus answers and says to him, Nicodemus is the subject. How. Is able this to happen or to become so to happen. How is this able to happen? And just a side note here before we move on to verse 10, you notice John’s tendency to repeat the same kind of language over and over again, the same words he [00:27:00] likes, he’s picking dialogues and that uses a lot of repetitive vocabulary and phrasing.
Jesus doesn’t always speak that way, right? Sometimes he speaks in parables and narratives and stories, but John seems to gravitate to those discourses of Jesus or those dialogues where Jesus is using the same repeated phrases over and over again and changing the meaning and adding on and developing to it piece by piece.
And that’s the way that John himself likes to write. And that’s what he emphasizes in the book of First John, if you’ve seen my video on that. And that’s the way he talks in a lot of his narrative sections which we’ll get to a couple of his narrative or not narrative, a couple of his sections that are, you know him as the narrator giving his commentary.
That’s the way he likes to talk.
Okay, let’s move on to verse 10. [00:28:00] ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶ ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις;
Let me get this verb here.
Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι ὅτι ὃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν καὶ ὃ ἑωράκαμεν μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε. εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς ἐὰν εἴπω ὑμῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια πιστεύσετε; καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
Ok, so a lot of verbs here. These stood out to me. If you know a decent amount of vocab, you’ll say, Hey, this is a verb form. Right? And there was another one here, οἴδαμεν. These are indicative too.[00:29:00]
I was just a little confused as I read it. I almost thought those were participles. I guess because they have the article in front of them, οἴδαμεν and ἑωράκαμεν. Because there were so many verbs packed in there. I was like, how can there be this many indicative verbs? So I didn’t box them in. But I think that it actually is, there’s just a ton of indicative verbs that John is piling up here, or Jesus piling up as he’s speaking.
Okay, so Jesus is the one who answers and says to him, you are, now we have the equation, right? The I think they call on grammars like the equative, I forget what they call it, the equative sense of εἰμί, used to equate both sides. So you are the teacher and then, so you and the teacher are both in nominative case. You’re the teacher of Israel and this not, you know, so you [00:30:00] as the implied subject here.
And then this is a question. The Greek question mark is the semicolon, and it’s not obvious to me that that has to be a question. There’s no explicit question word in this sentence. So maybe it could just be a statement by Jesus. But the editors of the SBL Greek New Testament are saying that they believe it’s a question.
Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you that what we know we speak and what we have seen, we testify. So the -μεν notice all the -μεν’s here means it’s first person plural, right? So we is the implied subject. So I’m just gonna put this empty blue box. We as the implied subject for all four of these verbs.
And the testimony our, not you receive. So notice here this -τε [00:31:00] is you plural, and that’s the implied subject here is you plural. So interesting shift in the grammar where Jesus starts speaking in first person plural, and second person plural. So he is talking about not just Nicodemus specifically, like up here.
This is just you singular, right? This σύ. He’s not just talking about Nicodemus specifically, but a bigger group of people. Maybe he’s referring to the Pharisees, maybe he’s referring to the Jews in general. And then this verse 12 is also gonna give us more evidence that the ἄνωθεν is from above.
So if the things on the earth I say to you, and you do not believe you, plural here again with the Tau epsilon. How, if ever I say. So I as implied subject to you. The things, [00:32:00] the things of heaven τὰ ἐπουράνια, will you believe?
Notice the sigma here is giving us a hint. This is future. So it’s will believe. And then once again, you plural. If I tell you things about the earth or sort of earthly things and you don’t believe that, or you don’t trust my word, or you don’t understand what I’m saying, how will you believe or how will you trust in my word, if I tell you about heavenly things? Because you can’t even grasp the earthly things.
So again, that contrast between heaven and earth, between what’s below and what’s from above is the emphasis of jesus teaching here, and no one steps up or goes up into heaven. If not meaning, that’s literally, this is if, and this is not, but these two words together can mean [00:33:00] unless and logically it makes sense, right? If not, it means the same as unless in English as well. So no one steps up into heaven, if not, the one ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, remember this exact same form was used earlier for Nicodemus was ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων. I don’t remember the exact ending, but it’s out of this place.
So out of the Pharisees, Nicodemus came and Jesus is implying he’s coming out of heaven. So if not the one who stepped down, καταβάς is stepped down and that’s contrasted with ἀναβέβηκεν. So ανα is up, κατα is down, and this is a compound verb. And then the -βάς part and the -βέβηκεν part are the same root verb, but this is the perfect, so it’s like [00:34:00] has, no one has stepped up, if not, the one who stepped down. And so this is the participle form. Yeah. So perfect. And then this is the participle. So usually I haven’t been boxing in participles. It’s hard for me to remember because this is another verb here that changes a lot depending on which tense it’s in or which mood. It’s just the form changes a lot, so it’s hard to remember.
Okay, so the son of man is the one who stepped down.
Let’s move on. Next part is verse 14. Καὶ καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσεν τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐν αὐτῷ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν [00:35:00] ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλὰ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλʼ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος διʼ αὐτοῦ.
Okay, so we have a lot happening on this page. You notice there’s a division here. They have a paragraph break in the SBL Greek New Testament. This is where a lot of people today believe jesus’s direct quote ends at the end of verse 15, and then John the narrator gives his commentary starting in verse 16.
Now, I looked into this briefly, and it sounds like most ancient writers thought that this whole section, going all the way to verse 21, I think, was Jesus [00:36:00] speaking, still speaking to Nicodemus. But more modern commentators believe that starting in verse 16 to 21 is John’s commentary. The natural way I would read this is that it is John’s commentary, like just reading that in context of what John has written elsewhere in First John and in the rest of the Gospel of John, it seems like he has this tendency, whether it’s John the Baptist or Jesus, he has this tendency to just abruptly switch from that person speaking, a narrative section to a commentary section without any warning.
It seems like he does that pretty often and the kind of language he uses in these commentary sections seems to follow certain patterns and to be a similar vocab and way of speaking that he has used like in first John. So I tend to think that starting in verse 16 is his [00:37:00] commentary.
Let’s first go through this first part, starting in verse 14, and just as Moses lifted up, the snake in the wilderness in this way should be lifted up the son of man. And notice this δεῖ verb, it is necessary. It’s a very odd verb, but you see it so many times that it’s not hard to identify. There’s really no subject. It’s just a statement about the world. It is necessary. And then it gives you the statement. So it’s necessary that the son of man be lifted up.
And what’s the purpose? So remember ἵνα is telling us the purpose. What’s the purpose of the lifting up? It’s so that all the ones believing in him might have life eternal. ὁ πιστεύων here functions as the subject of this [00:38:00] ἵνα clause. And then what are they doing? What is the subject doing? Well, the subjunctive verb have or might have life eternal.
And then we have John 3:16, maybe the most famous verse in the whole Bible. In this way, for in this way god loved. And then the subject, yeah, the subject here is God, what did God love? So what’s the direct object? Its τὸν κόσμον, the world, so that the son, the only born he gave. So the implied subject here is looking back to God and what’s the purpose of giving this son? So that all the ones believing into him not be destroyed or not perish, but have life eternal.
So the subject of this ἵνα [00:39:00] clause is the same as the previous one ὀ πιστεύων. And just to pause here again and notice this idea of life eternal that Jesus is talking about. Which comes from the born from above, it just reinforces the son is being sit down, sent down from God to the earth, and the son is being lifted up.
So once again, we have all these contrasts between, like above and below embedded in John’s language. And so ἄνωθεν here, it just seems abundantly clear that Jesus’ emphasis, and John the narrator’s emphasis is on born from above, not necessarily born again.
And then verse 17. God is the subject for God did not send the Son into the world.
And the purpose, what is not the purpose. ’cause remember, we had οὐ negating, so the purpose he did not [00:40:00] send into the world to κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, in order to judge the world, but in order to save the world through him. Notice the two ἵνα clauses and their contrasted using the ἀλλ. And usually this would have another alpha, right? We’ve just dropped the alpha because the next word starts with a vowel. So the first ἴνα clause tells us what’s not the purpose. The second clause tells us what is the purpose of sending the son into the world.
Next page is verse 18.
I took a little break to eat lunch, and now I’m back ready to finish this passage. We’re about halfway through chapter three in terms of verse count, but I think in terms of content, the pieces that we need to spend the most time on are already behind us in the first half of the chapter, so I think the second half is gonna go quite a bit faster.
Let’s start again [00:41:00] in John three, verse 18. ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται· ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται, ὅτι μὴ πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κρίσις ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐλήλυθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς, ἦν γὰρ αὐτῶν πονηρὰ τὰ ἔργα. πᾶς γὰρ ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ.
Okay. I forgot to box in the verbs as I went through, but let’s just do that as we translate it. So the one believing into him, you remember this is the son of man, the one that the father sent based on the previous verses is not [00:42:00] judged. οὐ κρίνεται. So passive form of judged means the one believing is not the one doing or not doing the judging.
He is the one being or not being judged because this is the passive form. ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται. If the one not believing already has been judged, notice the similarity here, κρίνεται with κέκριται, the main difference is obvious, right? I’ll go ahead and box this in, but the main difference is these first two letters.
So we have the reduplication: take the first consonant, then copy it and then put an epsilon in there to form the perfect tense. So this is perfect tense, remember, is something that happened in the past that has ongoing consequences in the present. It’s both past and [00:43:00] present in a sense. So has been judged already that not believed. So that’s the main verb into the name of the only Born son of God.
And then we have this. So what is the, this referring to? Notice that it’s feminine. And this is feminine here as well. Ἠ κρίσις is related to, and I think, yeah, just to complete that thought, this is the judgment that, and then he’s gonna tell us the judgment.
So this κρίσις is related to both of these two words. Notice the kappa rho iota, kappa rho iota, kappa rho iota. In this case, the noun form, we have a sigma instead of the Tau, but that’s not uncommon. That you’ll have sort of a root, the primary root of a word group having somewhere around three [00:44:00] letters. And those three letters, then you build on a lot of other, you place a lot of other letters around them in order to form the noun and form different verbs. So here it was judgment and like judging verb.
And then here is like the judgment noun form. Notice also if you say this word in English, crisis. Crisis is a kind of judgment. So you can see the etymological link there in our modern English word coming from the Greek. Now, it doesn’t mean exactly the same thing, but it’s very close. It’s in the same realm of judgment.
Okay, so what is the judgment? That the light has come. So we saw this word earlier, right? Very irregular form. Perfect form of ἔρχομαι to come. Into the world and loved the [00:45:00] people or the loved mankind, more the light than… or loved, they loved more the darkness than the light. Now, why was that? For what were their evil, the works. Their works were evil, so they love darkness more than light.
Now notice the language here, how similar it is to the letter of first John, both in verse 19 and as we continue. For everyone wickedness or evil πράσσων is like doing or practicing hates the light. And not comes towards the light. Why? So ἵνα clause telling us why they don’t come towards the light.
Because not to show, or to reveal or to be seen, the works theirs. [00:46:00] Okay? Because their works are evil. They don’t want their works to be seen, so they stay in the darkness and they love the darkness more than the light.
Verse 21. Okay, so you notice there’s a paragraph break here. So what we’re gonna see is that verse 21 is the end of John’s commentary on Jesus and Nicodemus conversation. Then we’re gonna move to a new scene in the narrative.
Ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα φανερωθῇ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ὅτι ἐν θεῷ ἐστιν εἰργασμένα. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν, καὶ ἐκεῖ διέτριβεν μετʼ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐβάπτιζεν. ἦν δὲ [00:47:00] καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων ἐν Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ, ὅτι ὕδατα πολλὰ ἦν ἐκεῖ, καὶ παρεγίνοντο καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο.
So finishing up verse 21, this is pretty obvious, a lot of the same vocabulary as what we just read. So the one doing truth comes towards a light. Why? So purpose clause, why is he coming towards a light so that it will be revealed. And notice the ending, -θῇ. This is subjunctive with the lengthened omega instead of omicron.
And then the subscript iota. It’s in an ἵνα clause. All those things tell you it’s gonna be subjunctive. And it’s passive. So the theta eta, I box that in ’cause that shows it’s passive. So will be revealed his works that in God is, has been worked, has been working. So to [00:48:00] show, so he is coming to the light.
So it’ll be seen that his works are coming through God or have been done in God. So the one doing the truth is not afraid of the light. In fact, he actually wants to come into light so that his works and the fact that they come from God has been revealed.
This is similar to what Jesus says about the city on the hill. Let your light shine before men like a city on a hill, like a lamp, on a stand, so that they will see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. This, verse 21, is contrasted with the one who walks in darkness and therefore wants to conceal their works. And now we move to the next part of the story.
So after this came Jesus, and the disciples his, into the something of Judea. So Judea actually let me do that in blue since that’s what I usually use for [00:49:00] nouns. The land of Judah, we would often say Earth. So earlier in the passage, we took this noun, and we used the translation Earth, but we wouldn’t, in English, we wouldn’t say into the earth of Judah, we would say into the land of Judah.
So it’s like saying the region, right? And there. They remained a while with him and baptized. So with actually αὐτῶν is them plural. So what exactly is this saying after this came Jesus and the disciples his into the land of Judah and there remained with them and baptized. So I don’t know if that’s saying, this is a little confusing to me…
is that saying the Jesus is remaining with his disciples and baptizing, or that the disciples are baptizing. So this is singular verb. This is plural, or sorry, this is, they’re both singular with the [00:50:00] N ending. So I assume that’s saying Jesus and their Jesus with them remained with them and baptized.
So I think it’s saying Jesus baptized. He remained with his disciples. They were all there together. Now, elsewhere in one of the gospels, it says Jesus was not baptizing, but his disciples were baptizing. So might be interesting to compare this verse with that one. Maybe it’s a different event as well.
Anyway, let’s go on to 23. So δέ gives us the development. So was also John baptizing at this place, Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ. So that’s all a place. It’s, this is probably a smaller town or region near a bigger one that people would’ve known better. That’s why they say near internationally, I [00:51:00] tell somebody I don’t tell them my town ’cause it’s so small, but I say i’m from near Chicago, even though it’s still quite a drive. And then ὅτι. So the ὅτι clause sometimes can mean like that, and it’s just adding on a fact. Sometimes it mean because, so here it seems pretty clear. Because it’s linking the water and the baptizing.
John is baptizing here at this place because there was much water there. And then here’s another verb. Water much was there and that’s why John was baptizing there. And, okay, so these are plural participles. They came to be there, and this is γίνομαι, but with a compound form, with a preposition on the front, παρα. So they came, so they happened to be there. They became there and [00:52:00] baptizing. Maybe this is saying Jesus and his disciples are going nearby where John is, and these participles are referring back, it’s plural, so presumably it’s referring back to Jesus and his disciples, whereas the first part of this verse is singular and it’s talking about John the Baptist, where he was and he was baptizing.
You can see the two different forms. So this is. Also a participle, βαπτίζων, but it’s first person tells you John is the one baptizing, and this is plural. Just notice the different ending on it. Yeah that’s how interpret this without looking into it more. It’s just saying probably that Jesus and his disciples are coming nearby, John the Baptist and everybody’s baptizing there. Near one another.
Let’s go to verse 24: οὔπω γὰρ ἦν βεβλημένος εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν ὁ Ἰωάννης. Ἐγένετο [00:53:00] οὖν ζήτησις ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετὰ Ἰουδαίου περὶ καθαρισμοῦ. καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ῥαββί, ὃς ἦν μετὰ σοῦ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ᾧ σὺ μεμαρτύρηκας, ἴδε οὗτος βαπτίζει καὶ πάντες ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτόν. ἀπεκρίθη…
Well, let’s, okay, let’s stop there. So just do what’s on the screen. So verse 24 is just telling us that John was not yet put into prison. So whoever the readers are, they know the story already that John gets put into prison and is later beheaded by Herod. The standard understanding is that the gospel of John was the last one written after the three synoptic gospels.
So probably John’s readers are already familiar with the story. We saw that earlier with Peter [00:54:00] too. Right? Talking about Simon Peter, but then afterwards, Jesus actually told Peter that he would be called κεφας, which means Peter, Rock. So there’s a lot of aspects here where John assumes some prior knowledge on the part of his readers.
Okay, so there happened, therefore, an argument. Notice the similarity between this this form here. ζήτησις, and like ζηλος. Remember in John chapter two it said, zeal for your house will consume me and ζηλος being zeal. And here we have a similar root, but a different noun. And so you can tell this has some relation to zeal and it’s gonna be a dispute.
So imagine two people, two groups of people, both of whom are very. Passionate and zealous about their own idea, and they’re arguing with one another. Out of the disciples of [00:55:00] John, μετά, so with, Jew about purification, this is like, καυαρισμοῦ is like catharsis, a cleansing or purification.
So one of John’s disciples, with a Jew about purification. I guess we don’t know. This may not be just one of John’s disciples, but it could be some of them. I don’t think it really gives us the number here because the main verb, Ἐγένετο, is just saying there happened. So it’s not really referring to a subject within the narrative. One of the characters within the narrative.
Let’s read on. And he came towards John and said to him, rabbi, who was with you across the Jordan, who you testified about, look, this one [00:56:00] baptizes and all go towards him. So it seems like one of John’s disciples is upset that Jesus is baptizing and lots of people are going to Jesus instead of following John.
Remember, in the early days, John had lots of crowds coming to him out of Jerusalem, but now those crowds are moving towards Jesus and this disciple of John is, is upset about this and he thinks John will be upset as well, possibly, someone else is surpassing him.
Now, what is the connection with this dispute about purification? So the word baptizing and the word purification are related not in root forms, or morphology or anything like that. But just the basic meaning of them is related. Baptizing, immersing in water is a sign of like purification and repentance, right? Which the same thing for [00:57:00] καθαρισμοῦ.
And so that might link the dispute to what Jesus is doing. So possibly this Jew is going to go off to Jesus. I think we really just don’t have enough information, but I’m just gonna make up sort of a story here. Maybe this Jew is disputing something about the baptisms and he decides to go off and follow Jesus.
And then John’s disciple is upset about all this, and so he brings up the fact there’s a competitor, a baptizing competitor to John. It’s not exactly clear what’s, what are we supposed to take from this? Okay. Let’s continue on and we’ll see John’s response, which if you read the first part of the book, you know basically what John is gonna say.
Oops, I didn’t turn, I didn’t delete my notes. Okay.[00:58:00]
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰωάννης καὶ εἶπεν· Οὐ δύναται ἄνθρωπος λαμβάνειν οὐδὲ ἓν…οὐδὲ ἓν ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ δεδομένον αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς μοι μαρτυρεῖτε ὅτι εἶπον· Οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ὁ χριστός, ἀλλʼ ὅτι Ἀπεσταλμένος εἰμὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐκείνου. ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην νυμφίος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου ὁ ἑστηκὼς καὶ ἀκούων αὐτοῦ, χαρᾷ χαίρει διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ νυμφίου. αὕτη οὖν ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ πεπλήρωται.
So John responds and says. Not able a man to take or receive, not one, if not, that has been given to him out of heaven. You yourselves… oh, okay. So this is, this gives us a little more information [00:59:00] about what is going on. So it’s not just one of John’s disciples who’s come up to talk to him.
It’s, there’s more than one. And we get that detail here in verse 28. ’cause this is plural. So you yourselves me… you testified that I, wait, okay. I’m a little confused here. So this is you, plural, and then this is testify. That I said. Oh, okay. So the one, so there’s an implied subject here, which is John.
It’s I said, and then the subject, this verb links back to this subject. So these two, these of his disciples you heard or you can testify about me, that I said. So you were there when I said the following: not I am the Christ, [01:00:00] but have been sent I am, before that one.
Okay. So he is telling him you should not be upset that they’re going towards the Christ by implication because I myself said I’m not the Christ and I’ve been sent before him and my purpose is to prepare his way. Basically. He doesn’t say that part here, but we know that from elsewhere.
So the one having the bride groom is. So notice these two, they have the same front part, but the ending is different. And so this is a feminine ending with the eta. This is a masculine ending with the Omicron Sigma. So bride the one having the bride. Groom is and notice the -ος tells us this masculine form is the subject of the sentence. Goes with ἐστίν and links it to the ὁ ἔχων.
So the one [01:01:00] having the bride, groom is. The one who loves the groom, who’s the one who stands and hearing him, joy he rejoices. In joy he rejoices through, or because of the voice of the groom. Okay, this therefore the joy. Okay… this refers to the joy. So this joy, therefore mine. Has been fulfilled. So remember, πληρω, I’ll use red ’cause it’s a verb.
So the root here, πλη means like plethora. Plentiful. Imagine a cup that’s filling, filling up and running over. That’s just like the fullness of this word. And we have the reduplication. With the initial consonant being copied and pasted in front and then joined to the rest of the [01:02:00] word with an epsilon.
So this is perfect. So it’s has been made full and by implication, remains full now. So this is a response we would expect from John because he’s come to prepare the way for the Christ. He’s not worried about competition with the Christ. He’s happy that the Christ who is the bride groom is fulfilling his role, right?
And he sees himself as the friend of the groom who’s happy to be there and share in the groom’s joy. But this friend knows he’s not the center of the wedding.
Okay, first 30, we’re getting close to the end. ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι. Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν. ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐστιν καὶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ· ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν· [01:03:00] ὃ ἑώρακεν καὶ ἤκουσεν τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει. ὁ λαβὼν αὐτοῦ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐσφράγισεν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀληθής ἐστιν.
All right I’ll go through this part pretty quick so that one, it is necessary to grow or increase and me to decrease. Remember we saw a word ελασσι or something, I can’t remember exactly, but it was Lambda alpha Sigma Sigma. This is a related form to decrease, it meant like lesser, it sounded a lot like lesser in English.
This is a related root, but for some reason the basic root either has the Lambda Alpha Sigma or the Lambda alpha Tau, and in one of them there’s been some kind of morphological change. I think it’s the Sigma is the changed version, so the basic root. Lambda Alpha T and I think there are a [01:04:00] lot of words formed with that root that have to do with decreasing or lesser. But in the one example, the morphological changes have changed it to a sigma, and that’s something that, happens frequently in Greek and pretty often if you see a double letter like that, a double consonant, you know, there’s been some kind of morphological change happening.
Okay, so verse 30 finishes up John the Baptist’s little response to his disciples.
And now we get John the gospel writer’s commentary on this event, and he’s gonna use really similar language as what he is used before. It’s gonna be kind of repetitive, stressing the same elements as before. So the one from above, the one coming from above, above all is.
The one out of the earth. Out of the earth is, and out of the earth speaks the one out of heaven coming [01:05:00] above all is. We see and we hear, or we have seen and we hear this, he testifies. Okay? The one who has seen and heard this, he testifies and his testimony, no one takes or receives. So is he, is John here talking about himself, the writer of the gospel, or is he talking about John the Baptist and commenting on John the Baptist?
That could be the case because in this example, John the Baptist’s disciple has not really understood what John the Baptist himself is saying. Right. And teaching that basically, Hey. You don’t even need to stay here with me. You should go follow Jesus too. ’cause I’m pointing to him. So that could be what the commentary here is.
Or maybe even, maybe this is even John the Baptist, still speaking, but I don’t think so.
The one taking [01:06:00] his testimony has sealed or like approved. ἐσφράγισεν is like stamped or sealed, has put a seal that God is true.
Okay, good. So this gets us to the end of the chapter: ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ θεοῦ λαλεῖ, οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου δίδωσιν τὸ πνεῦμα. ὁ πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν υἱόν, καὶ πάντα δέδωκεν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ. ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν τῷ υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν, ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν.
All right, so this sounds a lot like John’s normal language. So for who God sent, the words of God speaks for not out of measure, [01:07:00] gives the spirit. So if it’s not out of measure, that means it’s without measure. So God gives the Spirit without measure. And it seems like the implication here is that the giving and the spirit.
Is tied to the words ῥήματα, which he speaks. So God gives the Spirit and then from the Spirit in connection with the spirit, come the words of God, which he speaks. And it’s also referring back here to the one sent by God. Is that John the Baptist? Is that Jesus? Could be either one. I mean it, it definitely fits either one.
The father loves the son and all, the father loves the son and all gives in the hand his. So he is giving everything, the all, into the hands of [01:08:00] the son. The one believing into the son has life eternal. The one disobeying ἀπειθῶν, the son, not will see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Okay. I’m not sure I have a lot more to say here.
And I guess as the video went on, maybe I got tired ’cause I stopped boxing in all those verbs. But hopefully you were able to start doing that yourself. Putting together the backbone of the passage, the main verbs, the subject, and then filling in the gaps like we were doing.
Just to review there’s quite a bit here in this passage, even though it’s a short one, we have that conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus where we had the idea of born, is it born again or born from above? And I argued jesus was really intending to say born from above is the primary meaning that does not exclude the born again meaning, [01:09:00] but it’s just not primary.
And then we had this little bit about John the Baptist and the confusion even of John the Baptist own disciples about what his mission was and what his purpose was, and that kind of basic jealousy that they had that, john’s ministry was being eclipsed by Jesus. Now, of course, there’s a lot of lessons in there for us today.
I’m not gonna talk much about that today. I wanted to keep this mostly about the Greek and the grammar, and bring out features of the Greek that you don’t necessarily see in English.
The next one is chapter four, where Jesus is gonna meet the woman at the well, that’s also a really interesting chapter. So thanks for watching and I’ll see you in John chapter four.